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The Mats

The mats

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11 views1 page

The Mats

The mats

Uploaded by

penaredondo.joy.engchi.north
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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"The Mats" by Francisco Arcellana

He had written from Mariveles; “I have just met a marvelous mat weaver-a real artist-and I
shall have a surprise for you. I asked him to weave a sleeping mat for everyone in the family.
He is using many different colors and for each the dominant color is that of our respective
birthstones. I am sure that the children will be very pleased. I know you will be. I can hardly
wait to show them to you.”

Nana Emilia read that letter that morning again and again every time she had a chance to
leave the kitchen. In the evening when all the children were home from school, she asked her
oldest son, Jose, to read the letter at the dinner table. The children became very much excited
about the mats and talked about them until late into the night. For days after that, mats
continued to be the chief topic of conversation among the children.

They were so excited about the mats because they had such a mat in the house, one they
seldom used, a mat older than any one of them. This mat had been given to Nana Emilia by
her mother when she and Mr. Angeles were married, and it had been with them ever since. It
was a very beautiful mat, not really meant to be ordinarily used. It had green leaf borders,
and a lot of gigantic red roses woven into it. However, taking out that mat to spread had
become a kind of ritual. The process had become associated with illness in the family even
deaths…

Mr. Angeles travelled to southern Philippines and brought mats for his wife and children.
Each mat has the corresponding name of all his living offspring, even those who already
died. When he arrived home from his trip, he presented the mats to his family. Nana Emilia’s
mat was beautiful. There was a name in the very center of it: Emilia. The letters were large,
done in green. Flowers—cadena-de-amor—were woven in and out among the letters.

“And this, I know, is my own,” said Mr. Angeles. His mat was rather simply decorated, the
design almost austere, and the only colors used were purple and gold. The letters of the
name, Jaime, were in purple. Marcelina, the oldest child was a student of music and was
quite a proficient pianist. Her mat had a lyre above her name.

José was the second child. He was a medical student already in the third year of medical
school. Over his name the symbol of Aesculapius was woven into the mat. ‘This is yours,
Antonio.’ ‘And this is yours, Juan.’ ‘And this is yours, Jesus.’ Mat after mat was unfolded.
On each of the children’s mats there was somehow an appropriate device. Their 5th child,
Susanna and their youngest, Alfonso on the other hand, had to wait until they get older to get
their mats.

The sorrow heightened when the last three mats he opened are for his dead children who
made his wife reacted with grief. At that point, Mr. Angeles cried with pain while telling his
wife that the three mats were for Josefina, Victoria and Conception. He added that his three
dead children must always be in their memory no matter where they are now.

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